1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Annoying calls such as a prank call and an undesired sales or solicitation call have been problematic to users, and several measures as described below have been realized or proposed so far.
For example, what is called a caller number notification service is one of services that came to be provided by telephone companies. In this service, a reception-side telephone terminal is informed of the telephone number that is allocated to a calling-side telephone terminal and at the time of call arrival the telephone number of the calling-side telephone terminal is displayed on a display device of the reception-side telephone terminal before the user of the reception-side telephone terminal makes a responding manipulation.
By utilizing this service, the user of a reception-side telephone terminal can not only answer at ease to a call from a person whose telephone number is known to the user but also refrain from answering a call from a person whom the user does not want to talk to, a call from a person whose telephone number is unknown, or a call from a person who has made the call in such a manner that the user is not informed of the telephone number of that person. This service is thus useful for preventing annoying calls.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho. 62-222751 proposes a telephone terminal having an annoyance preventing function. In the annoyance preventing function proposed in this publication, an automatic response is made at the time of call arrival and an answering message stored in a memory of the telephone terminal is transmitted to the calling side. If the calling side responds to the transmitted answering message, ringing tones are emitted.
That is, the telephone terminal having the annoyance preventing function does not emit ringing tones immediately upon call arrival but do so only when the caller has responded to an answering message, to thereby prevent the user from being called up by a prank call, a wrong-number call, or the like.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei. 4-262654 proposes a telephone terminal having a prank call repulsing function. The prank call repulsing function proposed in this publication is as follows. When the user has undesirably responded to a prank call, he depresses a prank call repulse button that is provided on the telephone terminal, whereupon a voice of the caller of the prank call is recorded for a predetermined period and the recorded voice is returned to the caller.
The above telephone terminal having the prank call repulsing function is proposed as a method of effectively repulsing a prank call when the user has undesirably responded to it.
Incidentally, in the above-described caller number notification service, according to a contract with a telephone company or by performing a predetermined manipulation in making a call, a call can be made in such a manner that the reception side is not notified of the telephone number that is allocated to the telephone terminal of the caller. In the case of a call that is made from a public telephone, the reception-side telephone terminal is informed that the call is from a public telephone.
Therefore, if a call is made in such a manner that the reception side is not notified of the telephone number of the caller or if a call is made from a public telephone, the user on the reception side is obliged to answer the call in a state that he doesn""t know who the caller is. Naturally, as described above, it is possible to refrain from answering such a call. However, the user who keeps such a procedure cannot respond to a call from a person whom the user should talk to such as a call made by his family member or acquaintance by using a public telephone or a telephone terminal with which notification of the telephone number is not made.
In the caller number notification service, as described above, the calling-side telephone number of which the reception-side telephone terminal is informed is the number allocated to the telephone terminal. Therefore, if a call is made by a family member or an acquaintance from a place that is different from the place where he usually makes a call, the user of the reception-side telephone terminal is notified of the telephone number that is allocated to the telephone terminal used but the telephone number is unknown to the user. In this case, the user of the reception-side telephone terminal cannot identify the caller, possibly causing a problem that the user does not respond to a call from a person whom the user should talk to.
As exemplified above, in the caller number notification service, it is impossible for the user on the reception side to recognize a caller without exception based on the caller""s telephone number of which the user is notified. Therefore, when a call is made in such a manner that the reception side is not notified of the telephone number, a call is made from a public telephone, or the user of the reception-side telephone terminal is informed of an unknown telephone number, the user may be obliged to answer the call. Annoying calls cannot be prevented completely.
In view of the above, it seems effective to use the telephone terminal having the annoyance preventing function as disclosed in the publication Sho. 62-222751. However, in the telephone terminal having the annoyance preventing function, ringing tomes are emitted when the caller has responded to an answering message even if the call is a prank call, a wrong-number call, or an undesired sales or solicitation call. In this case, the user of the reception-side telephone terminal is obliged to answer in a state that he does not know who the caller is. Annoying calls such as a prank call cannot be prevented completely.
In the telephone terminal having the prank call repulsing function as disclosed in the publication Hei. 4-262654, the user who has undesirably responded to a prank call can repulse it effectively because a voice of the caller of the prank call can be returned to the call as it is. However, the prank call repulsing function is a function that is effective when the user has undesirably responded to a prank call, and does not prevent answering itself to a prank call.
In view of the above, in the case of the telephone terminal having the automatic answering function, it is conceivable to allow the user to identify a caller based on a call content message from the caller by utilizing the automatic answering function and, if the caller is a person whom the user wants to talk to, start talking to the caller by switching from an automatic answering mode to a communication mode by lifting up a handset, for example.
However, the automatic answering function is a function for automatically answering a call and storing a call content message of the caller in a memory, for example, of the telephone terminal. Therefore, even if a caller is identified based on a call content message from the caller and it has been found that the caller is a person whom the user wants to talk to, there may frequently occur events that when switching is made to a communication mode the message from the caller has already been finished and the telephone circuit has been disconnected, in which case the user cannot answer the call and communicate with the caller.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a telephone terminal which can completely prevent answering to annoying calls and surely allows the user to answer a call from a caller whom the user wants to talk to.
The invention provides a telephone apparatus for communicating an information signal via a communication network, the telephone apparatus comprising receiving means for receiving an information signal; transmitting means for transmitting an information signal; informing means for informing a user of reception of connection demanding information when the receiving means receives the connection demanding information from a second telephone apparatus as the information signal; storing means for storing message information; user input means for allowing a user to input an instruction signal; and control means for controlling the transmitting means to transmit, as the information signal, the message information stored in the storing means to the second telephone apparatus in accordance with the instruction signal that is input through the user input means when the informing means informs the user of the reception of the connection demanding information.
The telephone apparatus may be so constructed that it further comprises communication means for performing input and output of communication information for communication with the second telephone apparatus, that the receiving means receives the connection demanding information and the communication information as the information signal, and that the transmitting means transmits at least the communication information as the information signal.
The control means may control the receiving means, the transmitting means, and the communication means based on the instruction signal that has been input by the user, whereby the communication information is communicated between the second telephone terminal and the communication means.
The telephone apparatus may be so constructed that it further comprises a telephone apparatus body and a handset, and that at least the receiving means, the transmitting means, and the control means are accommodated in the telephone apparatus body and the communication means is provided in the handset.
The control means may control the receiving means, the transmitting means, and the communication means when detecting that the handset has been separated from the telephone apparatus body, whereby the communication information is communicated between the second telephone terminal and the communication means.
The control means may disconnect communication of an information signal with the second telephone apparatus based on an instruction signal that input through the user input means.
The telephone apparatus may be so constructed that it further comprises time detecting means for keeping time, and communication information detecting means for detecting whether the receiving means has received communication information from the second telephone apparatus, and that the control means disconnects communication of communication information between the telephone apparatus and the second telephone apparatus when no communication information is input from the second telephone apparatus to the communication information detecting means until the time detecting means detects a lapse of a predetermined period from a time point when the message information stored in the message storing means was transmitted from the transmitting means.
The control means may set the predetermined period based on an instruction signal that is input through the user input means.
The telephone apparatus may be so constructed that it further comprises communication storing means for storing communication information that is received by the receiving means, and that the control means causes the communication storing means to store communication information received by the receiving means based on an instruction signal that is input through the user input means.
The telephone apparatus may be so constructed that it further comprises remote control signal receiving means for receiving a command signal that is output from a remote control device, and that the control means executes a process corresponding to the command signal.
The telephone apparatus may be so constructed that it further comprises voice signal detecting means for detecting a voice signal indicating a prescribed command, and that the control means executes a process corresponding to the voice command.
The message information stored in the message storing means may be information for requesting a user of the second telephone apparatus to introduce himself.